Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-06-16
WHEN [ WAS A STUDENT.

genius for speculative research than the
prodigious faculty for applied science
which characterized his career. His sur
gical discoveries, although numerous and
important, do not admit of his being
compared even with such men as j. J..
Petit, Pott Or Deseult; but the marvellous
ease which he displayed in cases of the
graYest concern, the expedients he had
25 command In complications of the most
desperate diseases, that admirable prompt
itude of eye, that infallibility Of judg-
nent and of hand placed him foremost
among practitioners in a science where
practice is SO intimately linked with
theory.
Carrying out to the utmost his absolute
views as positive, Dupuytren, In mat
tiers connected with religion, obstinately
inveighed against what he termed Utopl-
an speculations, whenever he found an
occasion, however specious, to do SO. By
degrees his antipathy that way degene-
rated into downright hatred. His high
position at the Court of the Restoration
could not fail, however, to extort from
him some concessions to principles SO
irrevocably espoused. Here is an ex-
ample: At mass celebrated In the pri-
vate chapel of the palace of st. Cloud one
elevation, let fall with great clatter his
Voluminous 'Book of Hours" bound with
massive golden clasps. The Duchesse
dAngouleme, who was present, looked up
and remarked:
"There is M. Dupuytren losing his
"Hours."
''But not his time" rejoined the Due de
Maille, who knelt by the side of the
duchess.
This religious assimilation, in which
Dupuytren seemingly resigned himself
with sufficient good grace, only irritated
him the more; it confirmed his strenuous
hatred Of ideas which were opposed to his
own, and Of those who advocated them.
However this may be, Dupuytren was a
hardworker; he was unremittingly occupi-
ed and few may boast of life so busy as
his own. Summer and winter he was up
at o'clock in the morning. At he was
at the Hotel Dieu hospital, which he left
at IL. After this he went his round of
visits and returned home to receive the
sick in consultation. Although he dis
patched these visits with almost brutal
celebrity, his clients where daily SO um err
Gus that the consultation often lasted far
into the night.
One day, the consultations having ex-
tended even beyond the unusually late hour,
Dupuytern, worn out with fatigue, was
about retiring to rest when another visit
or came to the door of his room.
The person was an ageG man, of ex-
ceed1ngly small stature. whose age it
might have been difficult to determine.
His full ruddy face, whereupon razor
had never been required to perform its
Office, still beamed with a plumpness and
prettiness which, in his youth, doubtless
recalled that peculiar type of chubby
eheIubin SO often seen in pictures of the I'm
macaIate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Under close network of burrows was a
tiny mouth, delicately cut, a little Roman
nose neatly drawn; his hands and feet
matched the rest of his diminutive figure,
for they were worthy of q miniature. His
blue eyes, his eatures and manner wore
an exquisite expression of timidity,
gentleness and good will. On certain
happily delineated features the eye
dwells with pleasure and his was one of
these. Your experienced an invincible
attrsction toward the little old man, and
his serene countenance could not fail to
provoke endearment. He was dressed
entirely in black and held in his hand
bill-headed walking stick.
Bowling as he entered the room, a broad
II
Dupuytren's eye fixed itself upon him,
sullen and frozen.
1sWhat's your case?" asked he, sternlr
Doctor softly began the priest, II
must ask of you to let me sit down; my
poor old legs are getting rather weak.
Two years ago a swelling came in my
neck. The medical officer OF the village
near Nemours, where I am settled, told
me that the abscess was of no account
and would soon be gone; but It got worse,
and FIVE months later burst of itself. |
kept to my bed long while without
finding relief. The fact is that I was
obliged to get up now and then, as / have
to perform unassisted the parochial
duties of four villages, and"-
"Show me your neck"
''Tis not" continued the old man, as
he hurried to obey the doctors behest
shat these good people are unwilling to
meet elsewhere to hear mass: but, you
see, they have a hard time of it during
the whole week and only Gods day to
rest upon; so I thought it unfair that the
whole village should be put to inconveni-
ence on my account. Then, again, we
have confirmation and catechism. The
bishop hesitated 10 send curate to help
me. So, doctor, my Pensioners all said
GnaG must come up TO Har1S ana con-
suls'you. 1t was long while before
made up my mind; travelling costs great
deal of money, and there are so many
poor people in my commune; but finally
Twas obliged to do their bidding, and
so took the conveyance. There is my
sore, DOCTOR" added he rendering his
neck.
Dupuytren was a long time in his ex
animation of the affected part. The sicA
mans neck had in it a hole nearly one
inch in diameter and of great depth. 1t
was an anthrax of the lower maxillary
gland, complicated with aneurism OF the
carotid artery. The wound showed symp-
toms of gangrene in more than one spot
and the case was altogether OF so grave
description that Dupuytren wondered
the sick man could be standing upright
before him.
He stretched wide open the lips of
the sore and scrutinized it inside with a
pressure painful enough to superinduce
Painting. The patient did not even vince
The examination concluded, Dupuytren
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